HARBIN,
Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Fifty-seven people were sick after eating snack food
from a shopping center in this capital of northeast China's HeilongjiangProvince
on Monday, said a health official Tuesday.

Liu Minglie,
deputy director of the city's health bureau, said hospitals in the city had
not reported any deaths or any critically ill patients as a result of the
poisoning.

He said hospitals have registered 57
people who suffered nausea and vomiting after eating the spicy Chinese
snack "malatang" from a vendor in the
underground dining area of HongboShopping Center in downtown Harbin's Hongqi Street.

Among those, 28 have since left
hospital after they passed medical checks. All of the hospitalized patients
are in stable conditions, said Liu.

He said a clinical examination found
the patients were poisoned by nitrite.

Lab researches also showed food
samples from the hotpot vendor contained excessive amounts of nitrite, the
official said without giving exact data on the content.